Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together

I have been thinking so much recently about what I love most about my business. As I said in my newsletter last week, travel is personal to me and I really enjoy helping people have stress-free vacations so they can build memories. After being a Travel Advisor for well over a year, the lightbulb went off as to what so much of my day is spent doing. I am actually putting puzzle pieces together. Let me explain.

When I first speak to potential clients, I have many questions I ask to get an idea of where they want to go, when they want to travel and how much money they would like to spend. After the initial discussion and if they decide to work with me, I start researching, gathering information and building an itinerary or picture of one or more ideas I have for them. And then I meet with them again to present my ideas. I tell everyone that we work together as a team to get the best vacation so if they don’t like anything on the itinerary, we will change it until it is perfect. Oftentimes this involves working with Destination Managment Companies (companies that specialize in destinations and have people working in the countries who arrange private tours, lodging and transportation). And sometimes, depending on the destination, I rework the itinerary myself, by choosing different hotels, tours and transportation.

This is where the puzzle building begins. It is my job to make sure that all of the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted. I need to be sure that every aspect of the vacation is covered. While I don’t always book the airfare, I frequently do all of the research to be sure that my clients have the best flights so I need to check layover times so they won’t miss a connection. Do the clients want private transfers to and from the hotels, do they want to rent a car or are they good taking a taxi or Uber? Do they want private tours, do they want group tours or do they want to explore on their own? Do they need restaurant recommendations and reservations made for them or do they want to wait and ask the concierge or the locals for recommendations? Do they need train tickets to get them from country to country? If they are taking a cruise, do they need a hotel for the night before the cruise, as you never arrive the day of the cruise and do they need transportation to and from the port? If their tour ends and they need to get to a larger city to get a flight home, do they need a hotel near the airport for a flight for the next day? And don’t forget the travel insurance!

Once all of this is done, I present a complete itinerary to my clients in an app that has all of the information that they need at their fingertips while they are traveling. And to complete the picture, I send a hard copy to everyone of everything, including vouchers, tickets, travel insurance and even a copy of their passport (if they are traveling internationally) so they can have it in case they don’t have internet or if they need to present a paper copy to someone. And I do this for every one of my clients to be sure they don’t have to think about all of the puzzle pieces.